One of the weekends, we drove 120km to the west which lies the city of Oostende on the Belgian coast. This is a very popular and famous destination for tourists and especially locals during summer. It took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes to arrive at the beautiful city of Oostende which overlooks the coastline and a beautiful Railway station that greeted us along the journey to Hotel Bero. It was a nice drive as the weather was cool and chilly (despite being in summer). Belgian weather is really unpredictable and crazy at times.
Rock Strangers by Arne Quinze
Probably the most hilarious thing I found out about this "port city" is the sight of a series of monumental metal sculptures that were scattered across the seafront looked more like some leftovers of architectural materials than art. Well, to many these electric orange structures are visually stimulating but to me, they are quite an eyesore. I think it could have been more tasteful if it's done in stainless steel instead of orange but that's my opinion and I'm no connoisseur in art appreciation.
We walked on the walkway by the beach on the Friday we arrived but the wind was too chilly and it was cold. It was really impossible to walk too near the beach and what more a swim in the chilly waters?!! I just couldn't imagine the weather could be this cold in summer!
We put up a stay at Hotel Bero for 2 nights. This is a hotel with a great location as it is just 2 minutes walk to the beach and it's near to the shops and restaurants. They have just renovated the hotel and it has been the top 3 hotel in Oostende on TripAdvisor for quite sometime.
There are 55 rooms in this 4 star hotel and we were checked into the 5th floor (the highest floor) which is the executive suite. The room is big and spacious, clean and the amenities provided includes iron, tea & coffee, bathrobes, mini fridge (but no minibar), shampoo and shower gel. The toilet is also spacious and equipped with a rain shower and towels. The room we had comes with a nice terrace that has an almost 180 degrees view of the surrounding but sadly only a part of the beach. Some of the rooms are also designed to be disabled friendly. But of course the best thing is that free wifi is available in the entire hotel.
The view from the terrace in our room.
The cafeteria here only serves breakfast. The breakfast here is great and great I mean by my standards for European hotels. You cannot expect a hotel here would serve a breakfast with 4-5 different nationality cuisine spread unlike the hotels back home but here they have a good selection of cold ham and salami, cheeses, cereals, a variety of bread, bacon and eggs. They have a few types of juices and a few varieties of coffee, which to me is already a very good breakfast. Of course I always miss a good breakfast in a nice hotel back home because I want to eat fried noodles and then a nice bowl of warm porridge!
For more info of the hotel, you can check out their website here. The rooms starts from EUR130++ and it comes with breakfast. The facilities here include swimming pool, sauna, steam bath, a fitness centre and a children playroom.
One of the biggest attraction of Hotel Bero would of course be the bar. This is the home of the Lindores Whisky Vault and their "On The Rock's Bar" which serves a decent list of Single Malt Whiskies and also a good selection of cask strength whiskies from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) which is quite a famous Whisky Club and independent bottler.
The whisky bar of Hotel Bero was also awarded the Best Whisky Bar 2013 by the Belgian Whisky Awards and I can see why. The whiskies they have here is amazing. I would say that I have not tasted even 10% of what they have here!! Most of the bottles here are so foreign-looking for me. You'll be ogling at the cabinets of whiskies and also empty bottles like me if you are a whisky enthusiast. I felt like a little girl in a Candy store. I'm sure you know how that feels.
The lounge is cosy and warm, just in the right mood for a dram. It feels like drinking at home but of course my home doesn't have such a collection of whisky! And if you are ever drunk here, the room is just upstairs. How convenient!
Of course being here with the Lindores Whisky Society president has its perks. I get to drink from the vault and some of the bottles here are legendary. One of the bottles belonging to my partner is a bottle of Glenfarclas 40yo which they are only 590 bottles out there and it was housed in a very special case. Luc says to me that I can drink it if only I could open the case (many have failed) and of course after a few tries and some intelligence, I managed to figure out how to open it. And I deserved a big dram!!!
One of the unforgettable bottles was this Rosebank 34 years old. Not only the distillery has been closed and a Rosebank bottle is a sought after whisky today but this bottle here is a prewar bottle. This is something I never thought I would have a chance to try. What a privilege!
I wished I could stomach more drams but after a few, I decided to call it a night and head upstairs for a good sleep.
The Lindores Whisky Society (LWS) is a renowned club for their passion about single malt whisky and every year, there will be a Whiskyfest that is held at Hotel Bero by the members of the LWS to expose and educate the whisky enthusiasts about whisky. This is where they showcase a number of bottles, mostly private bottlings that we have not seen before and for a price per dram, the visitor can taste from this bottles. This year, the Whiskyfest 2013 will be held in this hotel from 23rd to 24th of November. And I'll be there!!! More info here.
Hotel Bero
Hofstraat 1A, Ostend 8400, Belgium
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